2 Capitol Police officers suspended over suspected involvement in riot

Members of the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 11 January 2021

Two Capitol Police officers have been suspended in connection with last week's riot at the Capitol, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said on Monday evening.

One of the officers took a selfie with a member of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol, Ryan said, and a second officer put on a Make America Great Again hat. The Capitol Police's interim chief "determined that to be qualifying for immediate suspension," Ryan said.

Two congressional officials with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post more than a dozen additional officers are under investigation for suspected involvement in the riot or showing inappropriate support of it. In one case, an officer posted online that they backed the so-called Stop the Steal demonstrations and believed President Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen from him.

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Ryan said Capitol Police officers are being looked at closely because officials do not want anyone working at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration "who was not doing the job on the Jan. 6th event."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.